Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) belongs to the genus Linum of the family Linaceae commonly known as “Alsi” and has 2n = 30 chromosomes. Linseed is one of the important rabi oilseed crops of India, cultivated in light soil under one or two irrigation in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Orissa and Bihar (Pali and Mehta, 2014). Chhattisgarh...

Twenty-two species of bacteria were isolated from Linum usitatissimum stored for retting. Achromobacter parvulus, Clostridium beijerinckii, C. saprogenes, C. saccharoacetoperbutylicum, C. perenne, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and its achromogenic variety are retting agents. The last species mentioned performs the retting in only 72 hr. This is the first time A. parvulus has been shown to be a ret...

Biotechnology can offer useful tools to complement conventional breeding programs. The techniques of in vitro selection, that exploit phenomenon, called somaclonal variation, by screening cell cultures for resistance to herbicides, different types of stress or diseases, already helped to obtain tolerant lines of flax (Linum usitatissimum), which were used in further commercial breeding programs...